Subscribe

Subscription has been blocked for this IP!

MAIMONIDES

“One only loves the Holy One blessed be He through the knowledge of Him. This love is commensurate to the knowledge. If the knowledge is little, the love will be little; and if the knowledge is great, the love will be great. Thus, it is imperative for a person to dedicate himself to understand and contemplate the wisdom and knowledge that inform him of his Creator.” (Mishneh Torah, Hilchot Teshuvah 10:6)

DONATE

NOW FOR SALE

FEATURED ARTICLES

The Knowledge Of G-D – 3:16

1) The first level, the Nefesh of the Divine soul, is the natural pull and love for the commandments of G-d, and the natural disdain for evil and any breach of the negative commandments. This level of the Divine soul is invested within the first level of arousal of the animal soul, called “cold thought”, which, as explained above, is the thought to desist from evil and to fulfill the commandments, but only in relation to action.

2) The second more internal level, is the Ruach of the Divine soul. This level corresponds to the second level of the animal soul, which is the excitement and arousal of a “good thought”. Because there is a personal involvement and attachment of the Divine soul to its Father in Heaven he desires to fulfill the commandments. Here, his intent is not merely to fulfill the Mitzvot in action, but to come close to his Father in Heaven, in the manner that a small child follows his father and never wants to be separated from him. (This level can be seen in converts and returnees who are personally “moved” from their “place” of evil by a great longing and desire to come close to G-d. This is what motivates them to begin fulfilling the commandments or convert to Judaism.)

3) The third level, which is higher then the previous two, is the essential arousal of the aspect of the Neshamah of the Divine soul. This is corresponds the third level of the animal soul, mentioned above, in which his heart of flesh actually becomes aroused in a felt way, with great passion and desire for G-dliness. In the Divine soul, this is the essential arousal of the heart of flesh through the grasp of the G-dliness itself, which is invested in the comprehension of the animal soul. (However, as explained above, in the animal soul the excitement is specifically from the Tamtzit(The final essential conclusion), rather than the Omek HaMoosag (The Depth of comprehension)

Furthermore, as explained, although his physical heart of flesh is aroused and becomes excited, he is not aware of it whatsoever. This is like one who is filled with either joy or bitterness from G-dliness, and bursts into song, from the very depths of his heart, with great arousal but without awareness of self at all. (The example given above was like one who wins the lottery, or hears bad news etc.) This level is the beginning of actual revelation of G-dliness in the heart. It is stated about this level, “Kol HaNeshamah TeHallel Y”ah” (The entire soul praises G-d). As explained earlier, the letters Yud and Heh refer to Chochmah and Binah. This level is how the intellect comes down into the heart to arouse an excitement toward G-d. (This is in contrast to the next level, where the heart goes up to arouse and expand the intellect.)

4) The fourth level, the level of Chayah is when the depth of his heart and mind become completely involved and occupied with the matter of G-dliness. His entire being, to his very soul, is completely absorbed in the matter. Because of this, the externality of his heart does not become excited as in the above levels, but rather, the essential point of his heart is engrossed in the G-dly matter under contemplation. This level is called “Intellectual Love and Fear” in which the intellect itself becomes excited and aroused by the Omek Hamoosag (Depth of comprehension)and not just from the Tamtzit (The final essential conclusion). Here too, he is not aware of self at all, and, certainly, this level of arousal comes suddenly and automatically (as a result of his toil). Now, there are two general levels in this (because there are two levels of Chochmah).

A) The first level is when he grasps the Omek Hamoosag (Depth of comprehension), which is the “drop” of Chochmah that flashes into Binah. He grasps the heyulie of this essential point itself, in his comprehension. This is the level of Chochmah as it comes into Binah. When one grasps this level, his amazement and consciousness is of how everything is literally as nothing before G-d. (This means that Binah is sublimated to Chochmah.)

B) The second level is how Chochmah is within itself. This is how Chochmah itself is sublimated to the nothingness of Keter, as stated, “Chochmah is found from nothingness”. At this level, a person literally sees G-dliness itself and the Truth of existence, that there is nothing besides G-d. This causes a total sublimation of his very existence as an automatic result of “seeing” the Truth of G-d’s existence as the “True something”. (The difference between these two levels is the difference between how Chochmah comes downward as opposed to how Chochmah relates upward.)

5) The fifth level is the aspect of the simple and essential Yechidah of the soul itself. This is a simple and essential pleasure which is higher than the aspect of a composite pleasure. For this reason it is even higher than the Koach HaMaskil (The power of conceptualization of Chochmah) of the previous level. (This is as explained in Part One regarding the difference between the inner Keter of Atzilut, which is above division into three lines, and the Chochmah of Keter, which is called the “hidden reasoning” or the Koach HaMaskil etc.) Therefore, this simple essential pleasure causes the soul to become completely and totally included in the essence of G-d (like the aspect of Yachid).

This desire is similar to the “Simple Essential Desire” (Ratzon HaPashoot B’Atzmooto), in which all other desires are so included in it and nullified to it, that it cannot even be defined as a “general desire” (as explained in Part One regarding the Infinite Light-Ohr Ein Sof, before Tzimtzum.) An example of this is that when one is involved in rescuing his own life from death, the essential point and desire of the essence of his soul, is aroused and touches his very essence. Therefore, all the desires which spread forth from the essence toward something separate from him, such as the love of money or the love of his wife and even of his children, become, literally, like nothing compared to his desire for self preservation. This is the arousal of the entire essence of his being. When this level of his being is aroused, there does not remain anything left to his awareness of self at all.

At times this level shines forth in every Jew. During the day of Shabbat this level shines forth in an encompassing way. It is then called “the additional soul of Shabbat”. Likewise, when one gives up his life for the sanctification of G-d’s name, this power shines forth as well in a revealed way. In such a case, rather than to be forcibly converted to a different religion, he desires to die and lose his physical life, in order to save the life of his soul, which is his true life.

In Tzaddikim Gemurim (Perfectly Righteous People) this level of the soul shines forth at all times, even during the week days, with an essential pleasure in G-d. In true returnees to G-d (Baalei Teshuva), this level of the soul shines in the same way as with those who give up their lives to sanctify G-d name. The reason for this is because a true Baal Teshuva is so disgusted with his physical life that he wants to separate himself from it. This is because he feels adversity in the physical. This is to say that he feels the concealment of G-dliness his physical life, with every fiber of his being. Because of this his soul can literally leave him, like the soul of R’ Eliezer Ben Dordiyah whose soul left him through weeping.

From all the above, we understand that there is actually an advantage in the arousal of the animal soul, over and above the arousal of the Divine soul. This is because the arousal of the animal soul comes about, specifically, through toil and effort in the contemplation of G-dliness, on the part of man below. This leaves a lasting impression and effect on man. In contrast, the arousal of the Divine soul may be initiated from G-d above. This may occur at special times to awaken us to repentance, such as on the day of Yom Kippur etc. Because of this, the effect is not necessarily long lasting. This may be understood from the generation that left Egypt. The Jewish People experienced many revelations from above. Many miracles occurred for them. Nonetheless, immediately after receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai, they sinned with the sin of golden calf.

However, in our generation (Which is the generation which will experience the true and complete redemption through our righteous Moshiach), the effort is from below, on the part of man. This will bring about a reciprocal response of influence and assistance from G-d above. Therefore, this redemption will be an everlasting redemption which will not be followed by further exiles.

Moreover, as explained above, the Divine soul is naturally drawn towards G-d. In contrast, the animal soul is naturally drawn towards physical pleasures. This being the case, one who has overturned his animal soul and has aroused it to be focused solely on G-d, has accomplished an infinitely greater wonder than focusing the Divine soul on G-d, since the Divine soul is naturally drawn to G-d anyway. Furthermore, as is known, the animal soul is actually stronger than the Divine soul. This is because its source is in the essential desires of Tohu. Therefore it comes from a higher source than the Divine soul, whose source is in Atzilut (Tikkun). This being the case, it is an infinitely greater accomplishment to transform the animal soul and devote it to G-d. G-d derives great pleasure and delight from this.

Specifically, because of this there will not be further exiles, because the animal soul itself will be transformed and focused toward G-d. This will be brought about specifically through Hitbonenut (Contemplation), since the only reason one sins altogether is because he is lacking awareness of G-d. The only reason he is lacking awareness of G-d is because he does not contemplate. This is as stated in Isaiah, “An ox knows his master, a donkey knows his masters trough, but Israel does not know, my nation does not contemplate (Hitbonan)”. The following verse immediately states, “Woe, a sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity etc.” In other words, the automatic effect and result of lack of contemplation is sin. Obviously, the automatic result of contemplation is that Israel will know their Master. This, in turn, will bring about destruction of evil and the immediate arrival of our righteous King Moshiach, with the true and complete redemption, immediately.